#niddry castle

[benvironment]

I had to dodge flying golf balls while investigating a damaged bridge at Niddry Castle today. Whose bright idea was it to build the castle on a golf course?!

[archaicwonder]

Niddry Castle, West Lothian, Scotland

The castle is believed to date back to the end of the 15th century. It was built by George, 4th Lord Seton, who like most of the rest of the Scottish nobility, fell with his king at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Fifty-five years later, a subsequent Lord Seton met Mary Queen of Scots on her escape from Loch Leven Castle and after escorting her across the Forth at Queensferry, brought her here to the safety of Niddry Castle on the night of 2 May 1568. It was from here that Mary sent a messenger to seek assistance from her cousin and fellow queen, Elizabeth I of England. The next day she rode west to Hamilton and then the Battle of Langside, followed by a flight southwards across the border and then eventually an English prison for the rest of her sad life. In later years, the castle and its lands, like so much else in West Lothian, was acquired by the Hopes of Hopetoun. In the 1990s, Niddry Castle was restored by Peter Wright as a private residence.

Niddry Castle stands just to the north of the Edinburgh to Glasgow railway line, on a rocky outcrop with Niddry Castle Golf Course curling around it.